Even as Turner Sports embarks this week on its coverage of the 2016-17 NBA season, it is expanding its role in eSports and, in particular, with the eLeague, which it launched earlier this year in partnership with global sports and entertainment management firm WME | IMG.

A mentor and former boss once framed a wonderful metaphor in urging me and others in our organization to strive for greatness. He spoke of creating "two percent moments." It's something that all sports marketers should think about in designing the most impactful activations and touch points, but, as I'll elaborate on, only if done in a pragmatic and customer-centric way.

It's been an uncharacteristically rough couple years for the NFL. While the game's popularity has surged ever higher year over year since the very first Super Bowl - and investments from sponsors and broadcasters have surged accordingly, the last half decade has told a different story off the field. The 24-hour news cycle has been largely unkind to "The Shield."